As hospital officials lobby against a state aid formula they say will force them to make cuts, the state released a report saying 18 high-level hospital employees made more than $1 million a year in salary and fringe benefits in the 2012 fiscal year.

The report, released annually by the state Office of Healthcare Access, noted that Susan Davis, chief executive officer of St. Vincent's Health Services -- which includes St. Vincent's Medical Center, in Bridgeport -- received among the biggest compensation packages, with a $2.4 million in combined salary and benefits. St. Vincent's announced Wednesday that it would be laying off an unspecified number of employees.

"Hospitals, like all organizations, need the right leaders to succeed," she said in an email. "To attract the leaders they need, they pay at market-competitive levels, just as they do for all employees."

The report calculated the 10 highest compensated employees -- salaries and benefits ­-- at each of the state's hospitals in fiscal year 2012, which ended in September. Benefits can include a variety of things, including insurance, employer payments to retirement plans or programs, and any bonus, incentive or longevity plans not included under normal salary reporting guidelines.

"Executive compensation is set by a committee of Stamford Hospital's board of directors," Stamford Hospital spokesman Scott Orstad said in a prepared statement. "With the assistance of a highly regarded compensation consultant, this committee regularly conducts analyses of not-for-profit hospital executive pay in Connecticut, in the region, and nationwide with organizations of similar size and complexity. The committee works hard to ensure that Stamford Hospital executives receive compensation that allows us to attract and retain the best executives, but also represents appropriate stewardship of community assets."

According to the report, the highest paid hospital official was the former president and chief executive officer of William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich, who received $3.36 million in combined salary and benefits. Hartford Hospital's chief academic officer and vice president of academic affairs was a close second, with a total of about $3.35 million.

The state's hospitals are now in a battle with the state government over Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's proposed budget, which hospital officials have said would cause them to lose a total of $550 million in state aid over two years. Hospitals say loss of aid could result in serious cuts, including possible layoffs.

Malloy characterizes it differently. He has said the budget doesn't represent a cut -- the hospitals just aren't receiving additional funding. Hospital funding has actually increased 245 percent over the past decade, said Andrew Doba, spokesman for the governor's office. The state's hospitals received $1.7 billion dollars last year, and Doba said the governor's proposed budget holds that funding level.

Malloy has suggested in the past that, if hospitals are worried about money, they should cut some of their higher salaries.

But cutting salaries wouldn't make up for the loss of the expected aid dollars, Vin Petrini, senior vice president of public affairs for the Yale-New Haven Health System. The system is the umbrella organization for Bridgeport Hospital, Yale-New Haven Hospital and Greenwich Hospital.

"The bottom line is (the compensation figures) distracted from these historic cuts," Petrini said. He added that reducing salaries and benefits "wouldn't scratch the surface of the cuts being proposed."

Petrini also defended the high compensation packages.

"These are market-driven investments in talent in an incredibly complex industry," he said.